Workshop on Interface Problems in Cement-Based Materials

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This workshop on Interface Behavior in conjunction with the FramCos-5 Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures,Vail,Colorado,April 12-16,2004. It will provide a forum for a exchange on fundamental issues related to interfacial transition zones in cement-based materials at different scales of observation.At the macroscopic level we will address adhesive bond among bi-materials such as concrete and reinforcing steel with and without polymeric coatings. At the mesoscopic level we will focus o adhesive-cohesive properties between cementitious constituents and natural aggregate inclusions as well as reinforcing members and laminates.At the microscopic level,we will examine the cohesive behavior between different .cement-based constituents. The workshop on interface fundamentals will include four sessions:(i)experimental obser-vations and sensing,(ii)theoretical aspects and material models,(iii)computational issues of delamination and fracture,and (iv)applications at different .levels of observation.The workshop presentations will be by invitation only.The discussion will benenifit from the participants of the FramCos-5 Conference who will be invited to attend the workshop at nominal cost.The intent of the workshop is to bring together leading researchers and to identify outstanding issues and a research agenda in the field of interface behavior starting from interface mechanics/chemistry all the way to repair strategies for hot and cold joining. It is the interfacial transition zone which is at the core of the workshop.The basic intenet are interface properties which determine the degradation of multi-material systems such as reinforced cement-based materials under monotonic and cyclic environments.Aside from the multi-scale aspects of such heterogeneous materials the workshop is intended to high-light recent advances and current issues in measuring interface properties,i formulating the constitution of zero-and finite thickness interface transition zones under multi-axial loading,in model-based simulations of interface degradation under monotonic and cyclic conditions, and in different .applications in the .field of joining and debonding.